Review 2. Koyaanisqatsi

Created by: Godfrey Reggia
1983
Duration: 1hr 20mins

Koyaanisqatsi, translated means: Life out of balance.
A state of life that calls for another way of living.

Balance is the core of the world, with good there is evil, with day there is night.
Godfreys video portrays many different types of balance and contrast.

With the film starting off with tribl drawings in a cave, and ending with a rocket firing off into space the main contrast is highley obvious; techinical and natural ways of life.
The same with the landscapes of the Grand Canyon and New York. Nature against man.
Another concept which is also shown throughout the video is destruction. Old buildings were being demolished and replaced by newer buildings, which shows the differences between rich and poor. This concept is also portrayed through the people in the video.
Throughout the video, the scenes changed in speed, some were slowed down whereas others were sped up. I think that this symbolises that we need to slow down on the planet, that technology is advancing rapidly and we are constantly relying on it.

The visual images in Koyaanisqatsi are very empowering, most of the shots are shown in either slow or fast motion. There are many night scenes throughout the video. In some we see people in the buildings turning their lights on or off. This is also going against nature; when the world is dark we can make light.
There were many explosions in the film, the fire is natural and the fire wins over technology.
A lot of the shots seemed very dim in lighting, with a dusty effect. This reffers back to the concept of old and new and what Man has made the Earth become.
There are many blurry visuals in Koyaanisqatsi, this could be to show that the world is blind to the mess that we have and still are creating.
At the beginning of the film we see cave drawings, it stays showing these for about a minute so it immediately seems important to the film.


The music in Koyaanisqatsi is non diagetic. It is cleverly placed to create completely different meanings to what is happening in the scene, for example; at the end of the video the rocket blew up and as it fell the music was soft and peaceful. If the music had been heavy and fast then the audience would see it as intense rather than have sympathy.
The peaceful music could also be there to show that the world is at peace again and that in the end technology failed and slight balance is restored.
At the very beginning of the film when we see the cave drawings, there is tribal chant music in the background, this is played a few times throughout the film.
The are some parts where dramatic music is being played even though nothing particularly disturbing is happening, however; that fact that we see nothing disturbing happening is probably the point that the video is trying to make. These terrible things are happening and because we arent worried about them, we are not shocked by them.

Overall i found Koyaanisqatsi very interesting. It is a very empowering piece and makes you see these problems in a different light. The way in which it is showed is interesting, with only non diagetic sound, and the simple effect of slow and fast motion, the concepts are shown effortlessly.

4. The use of exhibition space to create meaning

Every piece of art has a meaning behind it and when the art is moved to a different space, or the atmosphere around it changes, its meaning and the way people see it differ.
On a blank space a piece of artwork stands out. It becomes clearer and the audiences attention is drawn only to the art. If a space is cluttered with other work your attention can be distracted very easily and you can miss understanding the concept of the art.
A gallery is purposely built to house art, a space created where these pieces can be viewed by the public. When someone arrives at a gallery they expect to see art, that is why they are there, so they give their full attention to the work.
If Picasso's 'Naked lady on a red armchair' was placed on the walls of a classroom, even though it is the same painting, its purpose and attention decreases.
It is no longer the point of attention, it is an addition to the rest of the room.
If a very famous piece of work is in an art museum there is a lot of security around it, this shows us from the beginning that it is an important piece of work even if we don't know exactly what it is or who created it. It automatically recieves attention and respect.
Every piece of art is created with a reason behind it, many artists want to portray the concept more vivedly, for instance; the shape or temperature of a room can change an audiences view of art completely.
On a recent trip to the Tate Modern i saw a piece of work by Robert Therrien, Table and four Chairs. Immediately this became my favourite piece of art, it was so simple yet so extravagant. I was immediately given the sense of feeling small, like a dog scrounging for food. Because the piece itself was something that we see in everyday life i felt at ease to touch the work. I did not feel as though i should have to be quiet to appreciate the work but that i could express myself in whichever way i wanted to. I found that the larger than life piece was exempt from the silence rule. The room in which it was in seemed small, this may have been that the Table and Four Chairs crowded the room or that this was intentional to make the piece seem even bigger.
It was the only work in that room as any other pieces would have been shadowed.
In a gallery, an artist usually has an order in which they want their work to be in. The order can change its meaning greatly. The order can be in colour, effect or the syle of mood that it is supposed to portray.
Noise has a lot of effect on the way that we see art, if some people laugh most people will laugh as well, whether to avoid embaressment of not having the same effect or they saw the art as serious and the laughter made them see it differently. Our reactions change when other peoples do even if we dont agree with it.
In conclusion, the art is what the space makes it, beit the lighting, sound, security or even shape of the room.

Review 1. Doll Face

Created by Andy Huang
Doll face is a strange piece with many powerful concepts, they are easily realised but still debatable.
The video is of a robot in a box with a doll face. Next to her is a TV which switches on.
The screen focuses on a woman which either suggests that this image is more important to the doll or maybe that the image is being forced upon her, which i think represents the force of the media.
The doll begins to apply make up to her face to make herself look like the woman on the TV which shows that she is not happy with herself, and this is maybe the reason for the robotic body.
She stretches for the TV as it moves away, she keeps reaching out for the TV and breaks. I think that it symbolises people in everyday life pushing themselves to breaking point to achieve the unachievable.
The craft of the piece is video animation with a lot of detail making it seem realistic even though it is a very surreal piece.